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Yoshiro Maeda didn’t win in a way he would’ve liked to yesterday in his fight against Kleber Koike at DEEP Osaka Impact. He first got hit by a thumb in the eye, and later in the first round by a knee to the groin, which made him unable to continue. Maeda won by DQ.

While still in pain after the fight he still took the mike and said: “My battle still continues. Is an Osaka event participation next?”, appealing to the DREAM officials at ringside.

Also on the card, a fighter I like, Young “RYO” Choi, won another fight as he stopped Yuya Aikawa by punches in the second round. I would like to see him in bigger events or in a DEEP title fight soon. Could he be a participant in DEEP’s upcoming Light Heavyweight tournament?

Miyata doesn’t think that there will be any problems fighting in DREAM for the first time since DREAM.1 since he has had fights since then.

About moving from Lightweight to Featherweight this year:

“I was a little too light at 70 kg. When I was 70 kg I passed by only having to skip breakfast at the day of the weigh-ins. So I was a little light. At 63 kg dropping weight is somewhat difficult, but I think Featherweight is a reasonable division for me.”

Miyata says about the 63 kg division of DREAM that if it was around 61 kg he would definitely give it up, but if it was 65 kg it would’ve been good. However, he says that he will definitely make 63 kg this time.

Miyata’s normal weight is around 72 kg. In DEEP he fought at 65.8 kg and seriously started to drop weight 2 days before. This time he’ll keep his weight exactly at 70 kg and then start to drop 2 days before. His body weight percentage is around 5% right now, but he’ll push it toward 0% (which he says won’t be a problem due to his wrestling background), so please look forward to the weigh-ins.

About DJ.taiki, Miyata has only seen his fight with Tokoro but he thinks he’s strong since he was chosen as a participant of the GP. However, Miyata will be over 70 kg (almost 100% muscle) at fight time. He thinks that there’s an overwhelming physical difference so there will be no problems.

He isn’t thinking much about the tournament right now, he wants to win against DJ and appeal with his strength. About his new gym, he has received a lot of support at his recent fights, he has been able to study various techniques, and he has become stronger by the week. He doesn’t think there are any minuses with him having opened the gym.

He has done physical training at Akira Maeda’s gym once a week this year. He has learned from Maeda about stamina which he has lacked in the past. He says with a bitter smile that the training there is more difficult than his fights.

Before, after the first round his stamina was mostly no good anymore. Now, however, he can fight 15 minutes, which he showed in DEEP, so the training has payed off.

He really wishes for the fans to see the weigh-ins. He is also looking forward to it. You’ll see a body which can’t be seen easily. It’ll be an enjoyable fight and he’ll show a different Miyata than we have seen in the past.

Korean up-and-comer Won Sik Park had a good win last week in DEEP against Yuichi Ikari. At a post fight blog post at the DEEP blog, DEEP boss Saeki and someone else chat about the fight.

The interesting part is when the other guy wonders what’s next for Won Sik Park. At first Saeki doesn’t say anything, but he then reveals it to the other guy.

Saeki says: next is ◎◎◎◎.
The other guy: eeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(speechless) you’re kidding, right.
Saeki: It’s been decided.

DREAM is 5 characters, SENGOKU (戦極) is 2, DREAM (ドリーム) and SENGOKU (センゴク) in one part of the Japanese writing system are both 4 characters. Title in Japanese is also 4 characters but a little later in their discussion…

The other guy: But, Saeki. Parky said after the fight that he wants to challenge Kikuno for the belt.
Saeki basically says that that sounds good, Kikuno is doing his best in DREAM right now, and it’s a likely fight in the future if both keep fighting their hardest.

Most Japanese names are 4 characters, so it could be a fighter also. But I don’t know which fighter DEEP have/could bring in which would cause such a “reaction”, maybe Nobuhiro Obiya.

In K-1 news, a superfight between entertaining Romanian Catalin Morosanu and Kin Taiei is possible for the FINAL16 event in Seoul. According to the article the winner of the fight will receive a spot on a reserve fight at the K-1 WGP 2009 Finals.

Most FINAL16 fights such as Musashi/Teixeira, Ghita/Schilt, Overeem/Aerts, and Manhoef/Bonjasky are already being rumored/leaked. An official fight card should be announced next week.

2004 Olympic silver medalist, 2005 World Championships gold medalist, and 2008 Asian Championships gold medalist in Judo, Hiroshi Izumi, will face a fellow MMA beginner in his debut at SENGOKU X on September 23rd. Samoan Antz “Notorious” Nansen from New Zealand became well-known in his birth city through street fights (also how he got his nickname).

Nansen started Kickboxing after he met well-known kickboxer Jason “Nobunaga” Suttie (eventually became his best pupil). Nansen became WKBF Cruiserweight champion and in October of last year he also became the WKBF Heavyweight champion when he defeated Joe Martin. He also took the IMF Muay Thai New Zealand Heavyweight title and his current record is 14-1-1 (5 KO’s).

Two other fights have also been announced for the card. The second Judo Top Team member on the card, Makoto Takimoto, will face Korean Spirit MC veteran Lee Jae Sun, and Antonio Silva will take on Big Jim York, who returns from a victory over James Thompson at SENGOKU VII.

Update: A confident Izumi at the press conference said that he wants to stand with Nansen. He said that he’s very confident in his striking and that it’s his fighting style. Not surprising talk since he said when he was announced as an MMA convert that he wants a fighting style similar to Wanderlei Silva.

Update #2: Izumi was on a one week training camp in Kagoshima last week. He usually trains with Yoji Anjoh, but sometimes goes to Yoshida Dojo and Wajyutsu Keisyukai to train. He has trained with UFC fighter Yushin Okami (at WK) and according to him (Izumi) he handled the menu with ease.

Update #3: Takimoto’s opponent, Jae Sun Lee, last fought at Moosin 1 (Kickboxing) in Korea. The fight is available online.

Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto said at a press conference in his gym today that he will travel abroad to train and regain his hunger. Possible locations he is thinking about right now are USA and Thailand. The plan is for his return fight to be at Dynamite!! on NYE.